New Public Audit Office Act Announced For Cook Islands

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com, London

08 May 2008

The Cook Islands is set to have a new Public Audit Office Act by the end of the year which will extend the powers of the Audit Office, the government has announced.

The new Act will be similar to that of the New Zealand Audit Office, and will give the Cook Islands Audit Office more autonomy in the execution of its responsibilities, and improve on reporting.

Director of Audit Paul Allsworth revealed that the current Act hasn’t been reviewed since the 1996 economic reforms, and suggested that the Audit Office has come a long way since that time, in terms of outputs that have set a high benchmark for the rest of the Pacific.

“Existing legislation, the Public Expenditure Review Committee and Audit Act, is adequate, but we have the opportunity to make it better to deliver better results for our people,” Mr Allsworth explained, concluding:

“The ingredients for success to achieve good governance is having robust legislation as it gives us our mandate, and to be able to perform without political interference. Having the ability to work independently is crucial and we have been very fortunate in having a minister (Sir Terepai Maoate) who is very supportive of that, our role and work.”

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